JONATHAN L. BURROWS

In July, 2000, Chef/Owner, Jonathan Burrows, a former Columbia Pictures executive, traded ‘scripts for ribs’ and opened Mr. Cecil’s California Ribs in West Los Angeles on Pico Boulevard. Joining Burrows in this venture were partners attorney Ken Burrows & Erica Jong, his brother & sister-in-law, TV producer/director Jim Burrows, his cousin, and Larry Jackson, a film industry executive. The L.A. Times called his food “plates of meat to dream about” and Bon Appetit Magazine included Jonathan (among 20 in the entire country) in its recent Who’s Who In American Barbeque. The second Mr. Cecil’s opened in January 2003 in Sherman Oaks, California and more branches are currently in the works.

“I don’t call my restaurant a barbecue restaurant, I call it a ribs place.” But it’s much more than that. Mr. Cecil’s California Ribs is 180 degrees from ordinary. Imagine sipping Chateau Lafite Rothschild as a chaser for baby back ribs, or toasting friends with Crystal over a heap of hush puppies. This is a rib joint with a celebrity pedigree in food and clientele whose devotees include Orlando Bloom, Tyra Banks, Pink, Baby Face, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Kevin Federline, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, Barbara Streisand, Tim Allen, George Lucas, Scott Baio, John Goodman, Danny Bonaduce, Tom Hanks, Stephen Stills, Jackson Browne, Dave Grohl, Seal, Heidi Klum, Snoop Dogg, Harrison Ford, Xzibit, Billy Zane, Rob Reiner, Flava Flav, The Cast of “Scrubs”, Amber Tamblyn, to name a few.

In July of 2005, Burrows was invited to cook for members of The James Beard Foundation (he has been invited back for September of this year) and in December 2006, Burrows will be the Guest Chef on the Regent Seven Seas Cruises' Celebrity Chef Tour benefiting the James Beard Foundation www.Rssc.com. Additionally, Burrows has been featured on many television and radio shows including 98.7FM, KBIG with Charlie Tuna, 'Leeza Live!', 'The Food & Wine Network,' ESPN2's 'Cold Pizza,' NBC News, KABC/KCAL, 'Eye on LA', FOX 11 News, QTV, The Style Network, 'Good Day LA' and more. Burrows has taught several classes for Sur La Table and The Culinary Kitchen and earned a certificate from The Epicurean School of Culinary Arts in West Hollywood, California.

Burrows began his professional career as an assistant stage director with the New York City Opera in 1966 with Placido Domingo in Carmen. Two years later he was producing theatre in New York, producing three off-Broadway plays (including Athol Fugard’s Hello & Goodbye directed by George C. Scott, starring Martin Sheen & Coleen Dewhurst) and one Broadway play, prior to turning his attention to the film industry. He started as an assistant director for David Lean on Ryan’s Daughter (MGM, 1970), then in the executive training program at Columbia Pictures, and subsequently as a Production Executive and in other capacities on seventeen more major films, with producer credits on Texasville (Columbia, 1990) and Fletch (Universal, 1984).

“I was very lucky to have had close to 35 successful years in the industry and now I feel as though it’s time to pursue yet another dream.” (Jonathan Burrows might just be The Hollywood Renaissance man – he is also a private pilot, owns his own polo team and is a serious collector of modern and contemporary art!) Jonathan and his wife Annie are the proud parents of six year old Zane Lowell Burrows and Lili Grace Burrows who is two.

Today is: Thursday, November 21, 2024